Olympic Roundup: Mexican Divers Win Silver

German Sanchez Sanchez (foreground) and Ivan Garcia Navarro of Mexico compete during the Men's Synchronised 10m Platform Diving on Day 3 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre on July 30, 2012 in London, England.Getty

Manchester, England – The Mexican tandem of German Sánchez and Ivan García pulled off a stirring comeback to earn the silver medal in the men's synchronized 10-meter platform diving event at the Aquatics Centre in London on Monday.

The pair completed the first round in eighth place, but they completed a difficult complement of dives to finish with 468.78 points. China secured the gold medal as Cao Yuan and Zhang Yanquan with an Olympic-record 486.78 points.

Sánchez and García attempted a difficult inward four and half somersault dive, which has a 4.1 degree of difficulty. That dive was never tried before in the Summer Olympics and had the highest degree of difficult (4.1) out of the six dives attempt by the eight teams in the final. That successful dive earned the two men 95.94 and bolted them from fifth to third place in a dramatic finish.

"I have always dreamt of these results but couldn't believe that it would happen in reality," Garcia said. "When I saw we came in second it was the best feeling I have ever had.

"When we got to the last dive I got more nervous as I was aware of the importance of getting it right."

Which García and Sánchez did.

"The first dives were good and that is what made us think we could get through in the competition," Sanchez said.

Women's water polo

Spain surprised China, second-ranked in the world, by a stunning 11-6 result in the Group A preliminary match at the Water Polo Arena. China had won the silver medlt at the 2011 FINA world championships in Shanghai, China.

"We didn't expect this, but for us it's important to start this way in the Olympics," Jennifer Pareja said. "It's a difficult group."

Asked if he thought the result made Spain favorites for a medal, Spain coach Miguel Oca replied, "It is too early to say. We have a very young team and these are our first Olympic Games. We have to have our feet on the floor.

Anni Espar tallied three goals as the Spaniards turned a 6-4 halftime bulge into a 10-6 margin lead.

Spain will take on FINA World League champions, United States on Wednesday.

"It wasn't easy," Oca said. "We had a very good game, but this match does not reflect the real situation with the Chinese team."

Men's water polo

Pedro Ibarra scored the lone goal for Argentina in its 4-1 Pool A match at Riverbank Arena.

"We need to change lots of things for the next match," Argentina's Rodrigo Vila said. "We lacked possession. We lacked ball control. We were slow when we had the ball and Great Britain in the second half had lots of counter-attacks and great speed and were far superior to us."

"I think I played a good match," Monaco said. "It's not easy to play the first match but I'm happy with the way I played today. Maybe the first set I was a little up and down but then in the second set I played very well."

Women's tennis

Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay lost to Varvara Lepchenko of the United States, 7-5, 6-7. 6-2, in the opening round of the singles at Wimbledon.

Men's boxing

Jeyvier Cintron Ocasio (Puerto Rico) defeated Oteng Oteng (Botswana), 14-12, in the round of 32 in the 52-kg flyweight encounter at the ExCel.

"I am fighting for the bronze medal," Cintron Ocasio said. "The strongest one in the competition is the Russian [Misha Aloian] but I trust myself that I can do this."

Women's archery

Aida Roman recorded a 6-2 win over Bombayla Devi Laishram of India in the 1/16 elimination round of the women's individual event at Lord's Cricket Ground.

Roman is the 2011 Pan American Games champion. "I feel the same today as I did when I won the Pan American Games in 2011, although it is a very different situation," she said.

Men's archery

Elias Malave of Venezuela lost in a shootout against Kuo Cheng-wei (Tapei) in the men's individual 1/32 elimination around at Lord's Cricket Ground.

"During the fight we were technically very even," Segura said. What made a difference was that my opponent had a very strong left side, which allowed him to take control of my right side."

Women's pair repechage

Gabreilla Best and Maira Laura Abalo of Argentina finished last in their race and were relegated to the B final at Eton Dorney.

"We had a really bad day today and we chose the wrong day to have a bad day," Best said. "The conditions are good but we didn't take advantage of them. We know that we can do more than this and are going to fight for first place in the B final.

"We were nervous and anxious about the final. There was so much pressure and the two of us worked differently with it and today we couldn't find each other in the boat."

Men's field hockey

The Spaniards played Pakistan to a 1-1 draw in the opening Pool A game at Riverbank Arena.

"It might not have been a victory, but I was just so happy to be here, with all the people in the stadium," goalkeeper Francisco Cortes said. "We'll see how far we can go, maybe the semifinals, until we get kicked out."

Michael Lewis has covered USA soccer for four decades. He is the editor of BigAppleSoccer.com and can be reached at SoccerWriter516@aol.com or via twitter at @soccerwriter.